


Naomi Finally Understands

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 17:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14048874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Naomi has returned to America after months in Nepal studying under a guru





	Naomi Finally Understands

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel Bingo prompt 'immortality/reincarnation'

Naomi Finally Understands

by Bluewolf

Naomi had finally returned to America after nearly a year in Nepal.

"I learned so much from Leshan Sharma," she told Blair as they made their way to his car. "And there's more I can learn, so I'll be going back. I wouldn't have come back to America now, only I needed to renew my passport." She sighed, annoyed - as she always was - by red tape. As far as she was concerned, a passport should be for life without needing to be renewed. Well, maybe once, when its owner was eighteen and no longer a child, but not after that!

Blair knew that, and smiled sympathetically. "It's not so much renewing your passport as renewing your photo on it," he said.

"I suppose," she muttered. "But there have to be easier ways of proving you're you than renewing the photo on your passport every few years."

Blair, used to his mother's belief that rules and regulations existed only to annoy people, said nothing.

They reached his Volvo and he put her two bags carefully into the trunk.

A minute or two after he set off, she said, "This isn't the way to the loft."

"I'm going to the Farmer's Market on the way home - I'd have gone there first, but I was held up at Rainier. In any case it'll let you pick out what you want."

At the Market, Blair parked then they made their way around the various stalls. They were both carrying well-stuffed bags by the time they returned to the car.

Blair put those bags into the trunk as well; they got back into the car and set off.

At 852 Prospect, Naomi took her two cases, leaving Blair to carry the more awkward bags of shopping.

Normally, Blair preferred to use the stairs, but burdened by cases and shopping, for once he chose to use the elevator. He led the way to apartment 307, put down one of the bags and pulled out his key.

Inside, he pointed Naomi in the direction of the small room under the stairs (although he knew she knew perfectly well where it was) while he put away the things they had bought at the market. Then he put the kettle on, selected Naomi's favorite tea - lemon and ginger - and made two mugs of it. He wasn't over-fond of it himself, but kept a small supply for when Naomi visited, and drank it himself then, knowing that she expected him to like it as much as she did.

She joined him and sighed appreciatively as she took her first mouthful. Then she began to tell Blair some of the things she had been learning from Leshan Sharma.

After a while Blair got up to prepare dinner.

If Naomi was only there for a couple of days, Jim was resigned to vegetarian dinners, so Blair decided on a vegetarian lasagne.

By the time Jim arrived home, it was ready.

***

After dinner, when the dishes were washed and put away Naomi said, "There's something I want to tell you - both of you."

Jim and Blair glanced at each other, slight apprehension in Blair's eyes.

"It's nothing bad," she hastened to add. She hesitated for a moment, then went on. "Jim - I've been telling Blair... I've been studying under a guru, Leshan Sharma, and I've learned a lot. I know you're a bit skeptical about the mystical side of things... "

"Some things," Jim agreed, "but not necessarily everything."

"Anyway, Leshan has been teaching me a lot about reincarnation, and - well - it's making me understand some things I didn't get before. Like the two of you."

"Naomi? What have we got to do with reincarnation?" Blair asked.

"One of the tenets of reincarnation is that in every life it's possible for us to meet people we knew in a previous life. It's not inevitable, but it's possible. It's even possible for someone who has died and been reborn almost immediately to meet and recognize someone still living that he knew in his previous life, though that's very rare. But how often might you go somewhere you've never been before, at least in your present life, but you think you know what's around the next corner? And you're right? Because you _have_ been there before, in an earlier incarnation.

"I told Leshan about you two; how different you are, the different lives you've led in this incarnation, how - yes, I admit it, uneasy I've been because you're a cop, Jim; and yet how quickly you became close friends. He is convinced that you knew each other in at least one previous life, that you might even have been related in that life. Possibly brothers, possibly father and son... even though you don't actually remember, the tie of affection is still there. Indeed, he is convinced that once a tie of affection is forged, it will never be lost, and although the souls involved might not meet in every incarnation they will always be drawn together as friends in any incarnation where they do meet."

Naomi was silent for a moment, then said, "I don't say I'll ever be happy that you're a cop, Jim, or that you've drawn Blair into that life; but I have a better understanding now of why you're friends, and I won't ever try to persuade Blair to move on and leave you behind."

Jim could guess at the effort it took Naomi to make that promise; and so he simply said, "Thank you, Naomi. And Naomi - you're always welcome here. You know that, don't you?"

She smiled a little tearfully, then said, "I think I'll go to bed now. I'm tired - it's been a long day."

***

After the bedroom door closed behind her, Jim said softly, "Assuming all that about reincarnation is... well, true, how often do you think we've been sentinel and guide?"

Blair grinned. "Probably every time, Jim. And I wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
